CHAPTER VIII.

OF ALTARS TO THE GODS.

The aspect of altars should be to the east, and theyshould always be lower than the statues in the temple,so that the supplicants and those that sacrifice, in lookingtowards the deity, may stand more or less inclined, as thereverence to be shewn may proportion ably require. Hencealtars are thus contrived ; the heights of those of Jupiterand the celestial gods are to be as high as they may con-veniently be ; those of Vesta, the Earth, and the Sea aremade lower. On these principles, altars in the middleof temples are fitly proportioned. In this book the me-thod of designing temples is given ; in the following,rules will be given for the arrangements to be observedin public buildings.